USA > Illinois > Kane County > History of Kane County, Ill. Volume I > Part 5
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snatched Shaw-na-neese onto a pony behind him and galloped off at the top of his speed for what has since been called Charter's Grove. But alas! and a well a-day for unfortunate Peter, when he cried there was 'none to deliver.' He had a good pair of legs and it came into his heart that 'jess now,' if ever. was the time to use them, and bounding somewhar' about a rod at a jump he 'cut for the bush' and the Indians after him pell mell. As good luck would have it, however, he managed to conceal himself in the thick brush and elude their grasp, until at last, giving up further chase, they returned to Peter's shanty. Here they soon made a finish of the remainder for their own special use and benefits'. Peter's bag of flour, fry pan and new blue broadcloth coat they vamoosed, cutting up those dreadful antics which savages, thirsting for blood, alone know how to perform. Peter's predicament was by no means enviable. He knew that he was in the wrong, for 'a guilty conscience needs no accuser.' He had time to think and he did 'tink.' He had time for thought and he 'taught' 'if he ever lived to get out of this scrape he sure to quit tam liquor business anyhow.' Afar off from the bosom of the thicket he had beheld the plunder of his shanty and the subsequent withdrawal of his enemies. He had no doubt but that they had gone for reinforcements and would soon return and murder him. Perhaps they were still lying in ambush to 'let the life out of him.' Still 'tinking' discretion to be the better part of valor, he kept still until it began to grow dark, when what should he hear but the friendly voice of his old comrade 'Shaw-na-neese' cautiously calling to him from the plundered shanty and saying to him that he had 'jest' got away from the Indians, who were intending to come and kill him as soon as it was dark and he was advised further by the redskin not to make his whereabouts very public -was assured that he would get up the oxen, gather up the fragments that remained, hitch on to the 'truckle truckles' and join him with all possible dispatch in the grove. Peter and his comrade were at last under cover of night, plodding their way over old logs, sloughs and brush to the west side of the grove, from whence in a cold rain storm, and Peter in his shirt sleeves, they made their retreat toward Walker's Grove, which they had the good for- tune to reach the next day, drenched with mud and water, and where Peter, starved, cold and hungry, was prepared to do up any quantity of muttering and swearing about the 'tam Injuns.'"
The chiefs of the tribes that lived in Kane and DeKalb counties were Waubonsie ( mentioned by Samuel McCarty in quotation above) and Shab- bona or Shan-ba-nee. Shabbona's settlement was in DeKalb county, in the township now known as "Shabbona," although he often set his wigwam in the beautiful grove on the banks of Mill creek, just south of Batavia, now known as "Pottawattomie Park" and much used for summer picnics. Waubonsie had his headquarters in the Big Woods, south of Batavia and east of the Fox river. They were at these points when the first pioneers arrived, numbering in all possibly over a thousand warriors, squaws and pappooses.
They have been described as having been powerful men physically, above the average American in size, muscular, courageous and intelligent above the average Indian. They had emigrated from Canada at an early day and were allied with the French against the English, and later with the English against
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the Colonies in the Revolutionary war. Shabbona is said to have been born in Canada in 1775. He died in 1859. The government at Washington set aside land near what is now Shabbona Grove, DeKalb county, and permitted him to remain, when the tribe was removed westward in 1836, because of his services in the Black Hawk war.
Shabbona and Waubonsie both sided with the Americans in the Black Hawk war of 1832 and refused to take any part against the settlers. In a great council of Pottawattomies held on the Des Plaines river, west of Chi- cago, they both spoke against Black Hawk and after the council volunteered a company of one hundred braves under Shabbona to cooperate with the United States troops in protecting the settlers of northern Illinois. Shabbona is said to have visited Black Hawk at his camp in Iowa and sought to persuade him against a war upon the whites. But Black Hawk believed himself robbed of his lands and power by the government and would not stay his hand. Shab- bona at once returned to Illinois and set about warning all the settlers of Black Hawk's plans, himself going from cabin to cabin and sending his sons and members of his tribe as far south as Ottawa.
'The government not only rewarded Shabbona with land at Shabbona Grove, but settled upon him a pension of $200 per year. He removed to the Kansas reservation given to his tribe in 1836, but returned to DeKalb county in 1840 with his family, numbering about thirty persons, and lived at Shabbona Grove some time. But at frequent intervals he would go west to visit his friends and about 1847 remained so long that the government believed the statements of persons who desired to secure the land and in 1849 sold Shabbona's property at public sale, the grant to Shabbona being so worded as to give him the use of the land so long as he desired to occupy it but without power to sell it. Shabbona returned that same year. It is said he came in the night with part of his people, possibly twenty-five in all. They camped at their old camping place for the last time, for in the morning the settler who had purchased the land ordered them off with curses and threats. It is said that for days this faithful redman, who in so many ways disproved the ancient maxim that the only good Indian is a dead one, wandered about in the woods. He painted his face black and fell prone upon the graves of his children. For a time he would not sleep or eat, but constantly beat his breast and fasted until he grew weak and weary. His mind wavered and he wan- dered about aimlessly, to be found lying upon the ground on Rich creek in Kendall county, distracted and starving. He never returned to Shabbona Grove, of which he had been deprived by the white man's cupidity, but it is said that the Indian women would at intervals return to the graves of their dead and mourn for them, departing as silently as they came. For many years Shabbona, then seventy-five years of age, spent his time between his friends in central Illinois and his kinsmen in the west. He was a familiar figure upon the pony he always rode, taking usually the old Indian trails through the woods rather than the roads of the settlers. Sometimes he traveled alone; at other times with a company of his tribe, and was always welcomed by the settlers, all of whom knew him and of his services to the pioneers. On public occasions he was a center of attraction and made much of as a public character.
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He delighted to attend country fairs with his family, where he was ever the observed of all observers. At Ottawa on July 4. 1857. he and his children and grandchildren led the procession and in the evening attended a grand ball. where he was made judge of which lady excelled in beauty and grace. He examined all critically and when called upon for his decision is said to have turned to his squaw, Coconako, who weighed near 400 pounds, and touching her shoulder with much pride, said. "Much heap. big prettiest squaw. During the campaign of 1858 he occupied the platform from which Lincoln and Douglas delivered their famous debate at Ottawa. He was then eighty- three years of age. In 1857 a sum of money was raised by his white friends sufficient to purchase him twenty acres in Norman township. Grundy county. Illinois, and build him a house. He lived there until his death. July 27. 1859. He was buried at the cemetery in Morris, Illinois, on a lot donated by the cemetery. Here his wife, upon her death in 1864, was also interred. On October 23. 1903, a monument consisting of a huge boulder bearing the inscription, "Shabbona, 1775-1859." was placed at his grave in honor of his memory.
SOME THINGS I REMEMBER OF CHIEF SHABBONA. Written by Laura Allen Bowers, of Sycamore.
The first thing I knew about Shabbona my father went to his wigwam to buy enough trees of him to build a log house. He told him who he was. Then Shabbona introduced himself and family thus :
"This me Shabbona" (laying his front finger on his breast).
"This me Pokenoquay" (meaning his squaw). and then he pointed to Siboquay as his pappoose and pointing to her three children, "These are my pappoose's pappooses.' The introduction over, my father made known his busi- ness, but the old chief thought it beneath his dignity to sell trees to a Shemoka- man and would not let him have a single tree. Consequently he bought the trees of Peter Miller, and we had a shanty to cover our heads made from them. in which we lived five years.
Shabbona was generous with the white people and he would bring a quarter of a venison to his neighbors frequently, and once in a great while a wild goose and a duck. Often he would go from house to house and eat with anyone that would ask him. One Saturday he came to our house and father asked him to sit up to the table and have some breakfast. He looked around the table and made the remark, "Me no see um. me no eat um." We had eaten every bit of bread that there was in the house for our breakfast and were going to bake that morning, but that did not help us out for the meal. He had asked Shabbona to eat, so I frowningly said in a whisper. "We have not a particle of bread in the house." The keen-eyed old fellow saw the maneuver- ing and said. "Lazy squaw." He thought I did not want the trouble of get- ting his breakfast, but father said. "Bake him some pancakes." So I did and it proved to be the very thing he liked best. and I retained my good name in his opinion, which I have highly valued, being only about sixteen years old.
KAANE COUNTY'S THIRD COURTHOUSE.
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KANE COUNTY'S FOURTH COURTHOUSE.
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The Indians in those days would not work. They would hunt and the squaws did all of the drudgery, such as cutting the wood and hauling it by hand, and they had to keep the fires in the wigwam, and they cooked the succo- tash to eat, and the corn and beans were some of their own planting and harvesting the summer before. The Indians furnished the meat for them.
They generally had a tame skunk running around for a pet and they would play with them as we play with kittens. The government gave each of Shabbona's children a pony and they never went on foot anywhere. They never provided anything for the ponies to eat during the winter, so the ponies had to steal what they ate. As none of us had barns we had to stack the hay outdoors. The ponies used to eat nights. The boys of the neighborhood would catch them and ride them down as far as Somonauk creek, ten miles away. They would drive all they did not ride and leave them in the woods and would keep about three ponies and then get on their backs and come home. In about three days Shabbona would come along and ask, "You no see um ponies?" Then we would innocently ask, "How long have they been gone, Shabbona ?" and he would say, "Maybe snee days; Ite know know." But they always managed to find their way back in a few days and then there would be more fun for the boys.
Shabbona understood the geography of the United States and Canada to perfection. Just give him a piece of chalk and start him on some stream or lake, say Lake Superior, and he would mark every bit of water and tell you what it was named and what the Indians called it. In fact, he would mark over a whole floor and tell us just where the different bodies of water were located. One time he told us he was Tecumseh's aid and saw Johnson kill him with a little gun that went "Ping!" My brother, Harvey Allen, was there when he was telling it and he said, "Why didn't you rush in between them and kill Johnson?" "Oh," said Shabbona, "two big men, let um fight." Then he shook his sides with silent laughter, as though he always liked the white man best. He had the faculty of going through gestures in all his talk, which made it doubly interesting to his hearers.
For a few years the white men came from the east, so many in number. and all wanted a few acres of timber to fence their farms and get wood for their fires that Mr. Warham Gates, of Paw Paw, bought the grove of Shab- bona and he persuaded Uncle Sam to sell it at one dollar and a quarter an acre. Then poor old Shabbona felt as though this grove was no longer his. He never would live in the log house that Mr. Gates had built for him. He wanted to go away (his old place is now owned by William Rusk) and my brother took them to Chicago in a double wagon and when half-way there they stopped and camped out all night. They had brought a hog with them and proceeded to kill and dress it Indian fashion. They built a big fire made from rails which they took from the farmers' fences and killed the hog, and four of the Indians tied it by the legs and tossed it through and through the blaze until every bristle was singed off. They then took out the intestines and old Pokenoquay took thiem and run them between her thumb and front finger and they were ready to cook without a particle of water having been on them until they were in the kettle over the fire. and that was all they had for their
UNIVERSITY OF
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supper. They offered my brother some of the stew, but he declined it. for he had brought his own lunch with him. Then they told him to get some of the meat from the hog. which he did, and after taking off the skin and broiling it on the end of a sharpened stick he took some of the butter off his biscuits and spread it on the meat. He called it delicious. You know the Indians never eat salt on any occasion. When Shabbona and his family came back to their place my father had passed away. I had married and I had never seen any of the Indians since their return. I met the old chief just turning in at our back gate. He was on his pony and sat there like a statue. I hurried up to him and held out my hand and said, "How do you do, Shabbona?" and he said, "Show-in" (which meant No), "me no Shabbona." "Yes, you are Shabbona," I said. "I know you." He still kept his face straight and kept saying "Show-in" for five minutes and then he gave in and said I was right. I asked him to come into the house. where my mother was. He shook hands with her and said. "Me no see um big Injun." We told him he was dead. but he would not believe it and wanted to go upstairs to see if we were fooling him. so we gratified him and at last convinced him of the truth. He seemed to feel bad and kept saying, "Dead. dead." We had a good visit with him, but he wanted to see my Indian and I told him he had gone east. Then he laughed and said. "Ite know know maybe, Ite know, me no see um."
You all know Shabbona was gone from here a few years and then came back. thinking it would be home again, but he didn't like it, for it was so changed. He felt as though the white man didn't want him any more and he went to Morris, Grundy county, and died. I do not know any of the dates of his going away or the death of him or his squaw, Pokenoquay.
The following is from the Aurora Beacon for September 12. 1908:
"Sitting upright, with bony hands folded in contentment, as they had died more than one hundred years ago. Pottawattomie Indians were found recently in what apears to have been an Indian burying ground on the C. M. Van Dervolgan farm, two miles east of St. Charles and about thirty feet south of Ferson creek on a bluff above the water's edge.
"The discovery was made by Charles Van Dervolgan, son of Mr. and Mrs. Frank M. Van Dervolgan, of West Second street. St. Charles, and a grandson of the owner of the farm.
BONES ARE WELL PRESERVED.
"While digging in the sand on the bank of the creek the boy unearthed a well preserved human skull with the lower jaw bone attached and the most perfect set of teeth ever discovered in a skull in this part of the state. Almost perfect human bones were also discovered beneath the skull, showing that the body, of medium height. had been buried sitting in an upright position.
"Beyond were found traces of four other skeletons. none, however, being in as good condition as the first, which seemed to have been in a dryer portion of the gravel pit where the graves so far opened were discovered.
"Quantities of Indian arrow heads and portions of other Indian relics were found in the vicinity, as is customary in most Indian graves.
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"Dr. W. E. Constant, of St. Charles, who examined the skull in the possession of young Van Dervolgan, has given his opinion that it is that of a man about sixty-five years of age at the time of death.
"The teeth are the most remarkable feature of the skull, being nearly as perfect as at the time of death and unusually sound for a man past middle life. Efforts will be made to make further excavations on the Van Dervolgan farm."
CHAPTER V.
WHAT THE PIONEERS BROUGHT WITH THEM.
The largest asset brought to the country of the then Far West by the early settlers was obviously sterling character and courage that might meet all obstacles and overcome them. But further than a stout heart, willing hands and abundant faith and hope in the destiny of the land they came to possess, they brought with them little more than such rough tools and implements as might be carried overland in a "prairie schooner" drawn by oxen.
A paper of which the following is a copy was found among the effects of Thomas H. Thompson, an early settler of Dundee and a justice of the peace there. The paper. a notice of a sale of property on execution, gives evidence of the equipment of a pioneer cabin home, for at the time. 1836. it is evident that no exemption law protected the debtor. He was sold out of everything lie possessed :
"Notice .- Taken on execution, and will be sold at public auction, the following property, belonging to Jacon Iconberry, at the house of Thomas H. Thompson, in Kane County, to-wit: one clock, one table, four chairs, one bedstead, one bureau, one cradle. one iron pot, one dish kettle, one bake kettle. one spider, shovel and tongs, one flatiron, one hand saw, one spade, two axes, one iron wage (wedge), one scythe sned (snath), one shave, two augurs, one keg, one hoe, twenty-five ps. earthenware, two tumblers, one teapot, three ps. tinware, two bottles, one jug, six forks, one knife, one set scales and weights, one trumpet, two spoons, one tin pail, one puter platter. two pair shears, one candlestick, one gimblet, one bread tray, one sive, three old barrels, one looking glass, one earth churn, one feather bed, two straw ticks, three B quilts, two spreads, two blankets, one tub and soap, one pail & tallow, one hammer, one old basket. The above articles will be sold, P. M., on Saturday. the 17th of the present month, at one o'clock. S. J. KIMBALL,
"September 5. 1836.
Auctioneer."
Add to such a household equipment a plow or two, an ax, saw and kindred tools, a yoke or two of oxen, now and then a team of horses, a variety of seed for planting the new land. a supply of provisions to last until the harvest, a few pictures, books and keepsakes from the far away home, and an old-style flintlock gun or two, and a small sum of money. and the material evidences of civilization and progress brought by pioneers are named. With
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the assistance of these they settled upon a virgin soil to wrest from nature the wealth she held ready for the laborer. With this primitive aid they were to build from the forest and hillside and develop from the willing earth a civilization unsurpassed by any.
And last, but not least, they brought with them high ideals of manhood and womanhood, based on generations of right living. Religion and morality were to the pioneers of Kane county of first importance and its standards to them, actual breathing standards upon which the activities of life were based in manner unintelligible to the modern, whose church is more a meeting place than a sanctuary; a lecture platform than the voice of the living God. The pioneers were religious with sincerity, placing confidence in that Providence that attends to the fall of sparrows as with the lives of men.
That they were so equipped and impressed upon the community in the early days the high standards of life held by them and brought with them to the West, has had much to do with the maintenance of a society distinguished for good citizenship and well ordered government and activities. Though their material possessions were small, their spiritual wealth was surpassed by few first settlements.
CHAPTER VI.
WHAT THE PIONEERS DID AND HOW THEY LIVED.
Were we to mount a canvass-topped lumber wagon, ride to the plains of the Dakotas, camping here and there by stream or hill, and one spring day pull up beneath a grove of trees upon some hill overlooking a valley of green and a river glistening a welcome from the surface of silver, we might renew the experience of those who in the '3os came from the East into the valley of the Fox-then a Far West country. Could we mount their slow, lumber- ing conveyance and rounding the lower end of Lake Michigan pull a winding, laborious route through hill and vale. along old buffalo paths and Indian trails. forty miles west to the Fox river, we should realize the coming of the pioneer.
When he had arrived at his destination no friendly voice welcomed him. but only nature, indifferent to friend or foe. On some hillside under the trees overlooking the river running below the caravan would stop; sometimes three or four wagons : more often but a single one. Preparations for camping would at once be started, and for some time following the white man and his family would live the way of the Indian-his "prairie schooner" his castle, and the wild wilderness of wood and prairie his domain. At once the newcomer would mark off the land he claimed by cutting the trees and driving pegs all around the piece ; or by running a plow around it, turning the sod as clear evidence of possession. Then would begin the building of a log cabin and the cultivation of a few acres of corn for corn bread. the staple food article of those days, and needed vegetables. Selecting the straightest timber at hand the ax soon brought enough logs to earth. These were notched at each end so as to fit together at the corners of the cabin, and the log given somewhat of a square
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shape by rough hewing on four sides. These logs, laid one above another, crossing and dovetailing at the four corners, comprised the body and frame- work of the new home, which was usually built eight or ten feet high. A more fastidious settler would shape his logs nearly square, that they might set more closely together. Across the top of this frame logs were laid enclosing the living space of the house. one room, which would generally measure about sixteen by twenty feet. The upper layer of logs made the floor for the second or gable story of the building. To make the roof rough hewn boards were set at an ordinary roof angle, one over the other, as shingles are laid. Beneath these board shingles ( usually three or four feet long and two to three feet wide) to support them logs were run across from the rear wall to the front wall, the end logs at the gables being cut to form a triangle and set one on the other. fastened together with wooden pegs. Between the logs on all sides clay was forced, filling the spaces between as tightly as possible, to hold the elements at bay-a matter more often ardently attempted than successfully accomplished-for water will penetrate through the hardest clay on continued application. For a floor logs. one side of which had been hewn even by the broadaxe, were laid close together over the entire space and clay forced in between, making a fairly smooth surface, commonly termed the "puncheon" floor, serviceable for wear but not as well conditioned for dancing, for which purpose it many a time must serve.
To the modern housekeeper accustomed to a gas range and modern con- veniences for conducting the home, the interior of that early sixteen by twenty residence, combining in one kitchen, parlor and bedroom, would present a puzzle she would be willing to undertake only on a summer outing. But to our esteemed ancestors it was a haven of toil and of rest, where existed all that was best of earth; where were enjoyed the highest gratifications of living; where were born and bred some of the noblest women, the greatest of men.
To enter this palace of the frontier you would approach a wooden door hung on wooden hinges. Noting a string hanging about where the knob of a modern door would be, you would pull the string ( the latch string) and raise the bar that ran across the door inside and locked it. The string ran down inside and was attached to the bar, which extended beyond the edge of the door into a socket of wood at the side. For extra security at night a large bar of oak was placed in position across the door and into sockets at either side. The ordinary bar hung on a wooden peg at one end. as on a hinge. The door was usually of oak boards, rough hewn, and held together by oak cross-pieces. in many cases nailed to the boards with wooden pegs. a hole being first bored with an auger and the peg forced into the hole. At other times nails were used, but with saving, as iron was scarce and high-priced. The door was no more than a hole sawed in the logs, the sawing having been done, however. before the logs were set. Pushing the door open and entering an interesting view would disclose itself. At the far end of the room an immense fireplace, eight or ten feet across (sometimes covering the entire end of the cabin). four or five feet high and four or five feet in depth, would be seen. The size of the fireplace would depend on the fancy and needs of the owner, there being no uniform size. Above the fireplace, which was in fact but the large lower
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